Coverage of Microsoft’s press conference from E3.

 

Microsoft didn’t hold back any announcements during its E3 press conference. Several demos were shown, the future of XBL and smart TV.

Starting off the conference showed a behind the scenes video of the Xbox’s most popular series. New gameplay footage of Halo 4‘s single player campaign was shown.

The next announcement was Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Sam Fisher is no longer in the shadows but in the Iraq/Iran border. He still performs his executions and mark kills, but this time shooting while running or walking, also Sam can call down missile strikes since he’s running the new Fourth Echelon.

Microsoft showed a new entry to the Fable series, Fable: The Journey. Then debuted a video to Gears of War: Judgement.

Following those two were Fifa 13 and Madden NFL 13 for sports enthusiasts.

A video to Forza: Horizon was shown to a dub-step track.

NIKE and Microsoft are working together on NIKE + Kinect. A personal trainer game with the Kinect that will make you “athlete-fit” with feedback every four weeks. Also, it will send updates to your Windows Phone for schedule workouts.

SmartGlass was next a new step for gaming since it connects smart phones, tablets, consoles and computers. Movies can be watched from the tablet and paused and picked up on the Xbox while reading information on the tablet. Sports can show plays and stats while another device streams the game. XBL will also get a browser: Internet Explorer. Microsft is expanding their partners for bringing more content to XBL they named Nickelodeon, Paramount, Machinima, Univision, NBA and NHL.

A new gameplay demo to Tomb Raider was shown showing off combat and using the environment to defeat enemies.

It looks like Microsoft has an answer to God of War with the video to Ascend: New Gods. A medieval fantasy theme with over-the-top action. The studio also showed off a teaser of a future cybercycle was shown LocoCycle and video to a cube puzzle title Matter.

A demo of Resident Evil 6 was shown. Leon and his partner Elena were fighting through a zombie infected city while at the same time avoiding gunfire from a chopper. Leon did execution style kills who up close to zombies and round house kicks like he did in RE4.

Wreckateers is an adorable Kinect title as you pull back a ballista and guide the cannon or arrow using your hands into a castle garnering high points.

Matt Stone and Trey Parker showed off a video of South Park: The Stick of Truth. An open world South Park game starring you. They explained how the game came to be in a comedic manner.

A video of Usher introduced the next Dance Central game: Dance Central 3. Then it was followed up by a live performance of the singer as he did the dance moves and premiered his song “Scream”.

To close Microsoft closed with a demo to a game that began on the Xbox and today is now the most selling IP in not just the game industry but in all media. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 showed more futuristic combat in a war torn America and dog fight in the air with a jet.

All in all, the press conference was impressive. It wasn’t comical like last years with the scripted family and it debuts were impressive from Forza and Fifa to Halo and Gears.